Dwight Howard, trade bait? Not again. Well, really, no, not again. Dwight’s staying put, and that’s just one thing we can say for sure in this week’s edition of Throwin’ Elbows:

KD is moving up

By posting 35 points Tuesday night in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s decisive win over the Los Angeles Clippers, Kevin Durant overtook Kobe Bryant in the chase for the NBA’s scoring title. Durant is averaging 29.5 points per game, while shooting 51.9 percent from the field, 41.7 percent from the 3-point line and 91.0 percent from the free-throw line. If he goes on to maintain those percentages while winning his fourth straight scoring title, Durant will be the only scoring champ in league history to also hit the magical 50-40-90 shooting-percentage trinity.

What’s more, with their win over the Clippers, Durant’s Thunder have firmed up their spot as the best team in the league. That includes the defending-champion Miami Heat, who have been slogging through a 6-6 stretch. The net result: While Heat star LeBron James’ production has kept him slightly ahead of Durant in the MVP race, the overall picture has shifted in recent weeks. Now, the MVP trophy is Durant’s to lose.

James and Durant can go toe-to-toe statistically, of course. Durant scores more (James averages 26.3 points) and is a better passer than he has ever been in his career (4.3 assists per game this year), but James is still his team’s primary playmaker (7.0 assists). They’re both quality defenders, and Durant has moved closer to James’ level as a team leader, a role that has been a work-in-progress for both.

And so the edge goes to Durant, who has not allowed his team a letdown this season. The Thunder have lost back-to-back games just once, and even as they have had to make up for the transition from James Harden to Kevin Martin as the team’s third wheel, OKC has not missed a beat. Credit Durant for that—and slide him to the top of the MVP scale because of it.

Dwightmare? Nah

If you thought we could manage to get through an entire season without Dwight Howard trade rumors, you obviously thought wrong. Howard-to-the-Brooklyn Nets rumors have been simmering for more than a month now, which is better than last year, when Howard-to-the-Nets rumors were at a full boil until after the All-Star break. But fear not, Los Angeles Lakers fans. Howard isn’t going anywhere—at least not until the summer, when he becomes a free agent. For now, the Nets have as little interest in a blockbuster Howard deal as the Lakers do.

Of course, many in LA might not think it a bad idea to call the Howard experiment a bust and shuffle him out of town sooner rather than later. One of those included in that group could be Howard himself, who obviously is not happy with the way things have gone. But the Lakers front office—primarily team VP Jim Buss—isn’t among those ready to fold the hand, and as long as that remains the case, Howard is staying put. The Lakers bet big on putting Howard and Steve Nash with Kobe Bryant, and they’re prepared to let that bet play out over the next few months and go from there. (Note: We’re not including Pau Gasol among those players with whom the Lakers will ride out the storm.)

There will be Howard-to-Brooklyn chatter, but don’t take it too seriously until draft night comes around. That is when the Lakers will start making their choices when it comes to Howard’s future. They will trade Gasol by then and have a little time to see whether things work better than they’re working now. If it is not working, or if Howard is hell-bent on going elsewhere—whether that elsewhere is Brooklyn or Dallas—the Lakers will have the opportunity to move Howard in a sign-and-trade that could prove to be as complex a deal as the one that got him to Los Angeles in the first place. Either way, the Lakers have put too much into getting Howard into their uniform to give up now.

Doc is down

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers usually is pretty good at taking the pulse of his team, remaining level-headed during cold stretches and focusing on areas of improvement during winning streaks. After Sunday’s road loss to the Detroit Pistons, though, Rivers was as agitated with his team as he has been in five years, saying in his postgame news conference, “I’ve got to either find the right combination or the right guys, or we’re going to get some guys out of here. That's the bottom line. This group right now, they’re not playing right. It’s in them to play right. But right now they haven’t been either because I’m not getting to them, or they’re not getting to each other.”

That did not bode well for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Celtics’ opponent Tuesday night. Rivers had challenged his team, noting that with the trade deadline a month away, changes could be coming. And yet, the Celtics went to Cleveland and dropped their fourth in a row, allowing Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving to hang 40 points on them—just the fourth player to score 40 against the Celtics since they traded for Kevin Garnett, and the only one to do so in a win.

Rivers’ threats of roster changes were not made idly, but at the same time, he clearly is frustrated by the fact the Celtics have enough on the roster as it stands to be among the leaders in the Eastern Conference. The big difference between this team and last year’s group—which went to the East finals and was one game from a trip to the championship series—is that this team has more depth, boasting a reserve crew that includes Jason Terry, Jeff Green, Courtney Lee and rookie Jared Sullinger.

But the Celtics have gotten no payoff from that advantage. Increased depth, ideally, would decrease minutes for everyone and push players to up their effort in the time on the floor that they do get. Instead, the Celtics have been a lazy team. They don’t do a good job of helping on defense, and with the aggressive trapping that Rivers prefers, that leads to easy baskets. Worse, they are utter pushovers when it comes to defending transition, ranking dead last in the league in efficiency on transition plays.

Rivers’ frustration is understandable. The Celtics should be better. They just need to try.